Ève Péclet

[Ethics, June 8th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister still refuses to answer, but it is clear that his office was directly involved at all stages of the scandal. Canadians deserve to know once and for all whether the Prime Minister's Office is still deeply involved in the Senate expense scandal.

The Conservative Speaker of the Senate, the Conservative leader and the Liberal leader, who were all identified by the Auditor General in his report on Senate spending, have implemented an appeal process to defend themselves. This process was put in place by the very people who will use it. Does the Prime Minister agree with this type of process?

[Ethics, June 8th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, since the Senate expense scandal rocked the Prime Minister's Office, the Conservatives have been trying to sweep the whole thing under the rug. The Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and new makeshift ethics expert has still not answered our questions. We will give him another chance.

After Senator Housakos was personally appointed as Speaker of the Senate by the Prime Minister, did the Prime Minister's Office give him strategic advice to minimize the damage of the expense scandal?

[Ethics, June 5th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, a few weeks ago, the Prime Minister appointed Senator Housakos as Speaker of the Senate, but today, he and his colleagues, Senator Carignan and Senator Cowan, have just been singled out by the Auditor General's report.

They took charge of the Senate committee that deals with the report and will be the ones to set up the arbitration process. This is an absolute farce. The foxes have been put in charge of the henhouse.

How can the minister be okay with this abuse of power?

[Ethics, June 5th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister and his office are embroiled in one of the biggest scandals in the history of the Senate. The upper chamber has become a real embarrassment for the Conservatives and the Liberals. Canadians are fed up with paying for all these illegal expenses. The Conservative champion of law and order, who was appointed by this Prime Minister, is now under investigation by the RCMP. We know that the PMO staff are up to their necks in this scandal.

What happened to the promise this Prime Minister made 10 years ago to clean up Parliament?

[La Pointe-de-l'Île, June 5th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House today to thank the people of La Pointe-de-l'Île for putting their trust in me four years ago. These past four years have been some of the best years of my life. During that time, I have been able to meet and work with people and organizations in Mercier-Est, Mercier-Ouest, Pointe-aux-Trembles and Montreal East, all of whom love their community and are dedicated to the well-being of others. I greatly admire them.

I would also like to celebrate and thank all those who work and fight, day in and day out, to build a fairer, greener and more united society. It is an honour for me to work beside them so that together we can build a society that lives up to our expectations. There is still much to be done to accomplish that goal, and I intend to work diligently so that the government finally makes meaningful investments in rail safety to keep all Canadians safe, so that everyone has an affordable place to live, so that our seniors can have a happy retirement and live in dignity, and so that sustainable development and environmental protection are finally priorities, for the sake of future generations.

Let us continue. We can achieve this goal together.

[Ethics, June 3rd, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister began by assuring us that Mike Duffy was a resident of Prince Edward Island. However, he was never able to prove it. Then, we learned that his office was directly involved in making changes to a report on senators' spending. The cherry on the sundae is that the Prime Minister agreed to have a senator do fundraising for the Conservative Party on the taxpayers' dime.

Will the Prime Minister finally explain what role he played in the Senate scandal?

[Zero Tolerance for Barbaric Cultural Practices Act, May 28th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, one of the problems we identified in the bill was the short title, which refers to cultural practices. The problem is that one in every three women is a victim of violence or sexual violence in Canada, no matter their background or whatever cultural definition the government has in mind when it uses the word “cultural”.

My only question is this. Why add this word if we know that one in every three women is a victim of violence or sexual violence? Why identify only cultural violence? Violence is a systemic problem in our society, so why not target violence against women? What is the purpose of using the word “cultural”?

[Zero Tolerance for Barbaric Cultural Practices Act, May 28th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I will ask my colleague the same question that I asked the parliamentary secretary because I believe that the problem here is the criminalization of victims.

We have debated a number of bills in the House of Commons describing a person as a victim, but criminalizing them at the same time. I do not understand. I know that he briefly spoke to that in his speech.

Why is it that, in some debates, the Liberals condemn the Conservatives for wanting to make criminals of the victims and in others they support the fact that the victims will be criminalized and, therefore, marginalized and unfortunately left to fend for themselves with no help?

[Zero Tolerance for Barbaric Cultural Practices Act, May 28th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, I would remind the parliamentary secretary that yesterday, when he had the opportunity to rise in the House to vote in favour of our motion to end violence against women, he sadly decided to vote against it.

I understand his speech, but I think it is a bit rich of him to point his finger at the NDP, which moved the motion his own government voted against. The biggest problem here is that while we are talking about victims, we are also making criminals of them.

The Conservatives did the same thing with Bill C-36 concerning prostitution. They said that women who worked as prostitutes were victims, but they forgot that their bill turned them into criminals. Then they proposed an amendment to their bill, but it still made criminals of the victims in certain circumstances.

They are doing the same thing today: they are making criminals of the people they say are victims. That does not work, and all the experts agree.

What facts or scientific studies do they have to show that making victims into criminals will improve the situation?

[Ethics, May 26th, 2015]

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister appointed Mike Duffy to the Senate, and the PMO was directly involved in altering a report on senators' expenses. His silence is unacceptable. The Auditor General's next report will name 10 other senators who allegedly submitted claims for inappropriate expenses. A total of 14 senators are now facing an RCMP criminal investigation.

Why did the Prime Minister's Office intervene to protect senators who misused public funds?